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substitutions

Today was the 1st day they called me to sub at the high school..which is convenient, they just opened the NEW section this year. trust me you didn’t want to see any part of the old building…just think post war poland, cement blocks and everything…lets just say there was a lot of walking involved today. Methuen doesnt pay much for subs…it’s about 54 after taxes, which is fine for me, i am usually not THAT productive between the hours of 6:30 and 1:30 to begin with. It gets me out of the house, i interact with young people which makes me very happy i don’t have any waiting for me at home and every couple of weeks i get a bump in the bank account. And it needs all the bumping it can get.

End of the month, the tiny royalty check came in just in time to pay Lawyer#4 his consulting fee. Shockingly i also i got a few orders, including one off etsy, and a couple from ebay … enough to get some cat food, some erasers for the website, and a few groceries.

Between flush weeks, I avoid the grocery stores unless i absolutely have to go in…i simply have no will power, if i am out of something i just put it in the cart like i’m a millionaire or something, I’d rather just run into a specialty store and just grab what i need to get by…the asian grocery for tofu and soy sauce, the arabic bakery for fresh pita bread, the english pork sausage and pie store for a couple of meat pies. I find there’s less temptation to load up on other things.

Needless to say i have been flipping through yelp pages for Greenfield, to see what i have for options. I can’t find evidence of a restaurant supply store like the one i have access to, the kind with professional grade cookware, dirt cheap, not that i NEED to buy anything, but i will miss the browsing. Same with the ethnic food stores…the town is 92% white…i don’t see a big Syrian population turning out competing kafta if you know what i mean. I’m guess i’m gonna have to learn to cook anything i really miss, unless i can get someone to send me care packages…..is 87 miles to far to drive for baked goods?

Yeah they have a food co-op and the people there are very organically and ‘locavorically’ inclined, but there are regional foods here that i will definitely miss. One is the deceptively simple sandwich called the chicken barbecue, with dueling 1920s origin stories, a bar food by-product of bootlegging, it once flourished thru the valley, but is now rarely found in its original state. It has nothing to do with barbecue, and the original recipe is only partially chicken. A 50/50 turkey chicken DARK and Light mixture steamed in a pressure cooker with aromatic vegetables and family secret seasonings, let cool, drain, shred, rehydrate with broth. Must be served on a SPECIFICALLY constructed sandwich: seeded hamburger bun, lettuce leaf, scoop of chicken slightly drained with a slotted spoon, and the mayo goes ON The top bun. Anyplace that puts boiled until dried out chicken on a roll with mayo under the lettuce should be avoided at all costs…they are philistines. Good thing I have the original recipe while helping edit that article, because it is DEFINITELY worth driving 87 miles just for a sandwich.